David Jordan knew brother would challenge Carey Baker, says incumbent should have paid his fee

Lake County Tax Collector David Jordan knew his brother, Mark, would file against Property Appraiser Carey Baker.

He also knew Baker had filed as a write-in candidate for re-election before. By his own telling, he tried to signal to his fellow constitutional office that it was a bad idea.

“I did the best I could without outing my brother and his political strategy,” Jordan said.

But Baker did file for re-election as a write-in, unaware he would face any opposition. He left the Supervisor of Elections Office right around the deadline on Qualifying Day. Mark Jordan, already in line to file his own paperwork, paid a qualifying fee and instantly became the Republican nominee. He faces Baker as a write-in on the General Election ballot.

Baker had characterized the action as a miniature conspiracy by the Jordans and the greatest act of betrayal he faced in nearly a quarter-century in politics.

“This could not have happened to me any other way except if it was done by a friend,” Baker told Florida Politics.

He said he told David Jordan before the qualifying deadline that he hoped to qualify as a write-in without opposition, as he had done in 2020. Write-in candidates need not pay any qualification fee, and Baker planned to return donations to supporters.

Instead, he has filed a lawsuit challenging whether Jordan should have been allowed to file paperwork without making interest in the office clear to elections officials before noon on Friday, June 14.

Baker showed up on Qualifying Day with paperwork and a check in hand, just in case an unexpected opponent filed. David Jordan also showed up to file for re-election as Tax Collector right before the qualification deadline, and noticed Baker was present.

He asked Baker if he was filing write-in or to be a “Republican Property Appraiser.” According to David Jordan, Baker said he wasn’t sure yet. Knowing his brother was in the room ready to file for Baker’s job, David Jordan said he held up his own qualification papers and waved them at Baker.

“How do you know what’s in this folder?” David Jordan said.

But the veiled warning wasn’t received. Baker filed as a write-in. David Jordan said neither he nor his brother knew for certain Baker had filed as a write-in until the incumbent left the office.

For his part, David Jordan considers the action by Baker foolish and somewhat undemocratic. Jordan faced no opposition and expected none, so he will serve the next four years despite his name not appearing on the ballot. But he paid the qualification fee, a tithe compared to his annual salary.

Baker makes $168,000 a year as Property Appraiser, similar to Jordan. A partisan qualifying fee in Florida is 6% of the salary set for an elected office.

But besides general cheapness, David Jordan notes that a third of the qualifying fee paid by partisan candidates goes to their political party, so not paying a fee denies thousands to the Republican Party.

David Jordan acknowledges he knew ahead of qualifying that his brother planned to run for Property Appraiser and said nothing. Mark Jordan was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January to the Lake County North Hospital District, and many, including Baker, expected he would seek re-election to that post.

“My brother told me of his intentions to file as a Property Appraiser candidate and he asked me to keep that in confidence,” David Jordan said.

He acknowledges the anger over the situation but considers the responsibility to be Baker’s. He recalls his brother, Mark, being as shocked by his Republican Primary win as anyone. “He told me, ‘David, from a Republican standpoint, a Democrat could have done what I’m doing,” he said.

It’s easy to imagine that if an opposition party had pulled such a slick maneuver, it might be greeted as a stroke of political genius. But having one Republican official in a deep-red county turn on another has landed differently in many quarters.

David Jordan has his job for the next four years, but also has drawn the ire of the Republican Party of Lake County and loyalists to Baker. The county party last month voted to censure both Jordans “for their deeply immoral and depraved actions unbecoming of a Republican official.” That’s fine with David Jordan, who considers himself in good company with Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.

Ultimately, David Jordan sees the move no different than many other manipulations of Florida’s write-in law. Lake County Republican Chair Anthony Sabatini, for example, dropped out of a congressional race at the end of qualification week to run against incumbent Lake County Commissioner Doug Shields, and three write-in candidates filed the same day.

With no non-Republicans in the running, this closes the Republican Primary to only registered Republican voters, cutting thousands of Democrats, independents and minor party voters out of the election that effectively will decide the race. It’s a common practice throughout Florida, but one often criticized as counter to voter interests or desires when they approved a constitutional amendment requiring Primaries that decide elections to be open to all voters.

David Jordan also dismisses talk of the betrayal being personal in nature.

“I’m not friends with Carey Baker,” he said bluntly. “We have always been cordial and collegial, but I don’t know of anything I’ve shared with him of a personal nature. In fact we’ve kept an arms-length relationship as colleagues, appropriately, because our purposes are separate with the tax roll.”